Korea Legalises Union Confederation

 The government in South Korea has at last legally recognised the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). The labour ministry decision on 23 November came after no less than four previous rejections of KCTU bids to obtain full legal status.
Announcing the legal recognition at a press conference, KCTU President Dan Byung-ho said the Confederation would base its future action on "the principles of independence, democracy, struggle and moral strength kept alive by so many pioneers who gave their lives in the course of our struggle".

The 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) has congratulated the KCTU and all Korean workers on their achievement.

"The Korean government has finally recognised the long-standing truth that the KCTU is widely representative of the Korean working class and is no longer a force that can be marginalised from negotiations over social and industrial issues," commented ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. "The courage and perseverance of Korean workers over the past years have been an inspiration to the labour movement worldwide."

ICEM member unions include affiliates both of the KCTU and of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), which was already legally recognised.

In a statement, the KCTU paid tribute to the many thousands of Korean trade unionists imprisoned and dismissed from their jobs during the struggle for recognition. The new ruling "is also a victory for the international trade union movement and the vindication of the standard-setting and supervisory vigilance of the International Labour Organisation," the KCTU said.

But it warned that full freedom of association is still not guaranteed in the Republic of Korea. "Some one million government employees are still denied the right and freedom to form or join trade unions," the KCTU pointed out. Also, "many millions of workers remain outside the trade unions". And more than 50 percent of Korean workers are employed in "non-standard" jobs which often put them beyond the protection of current labour laws. "70 percent of employed women workers are found in this category," the KCTU said. It has resolved to "reach out to these workers".

The KCTU will also campaign next year for the Korean statutory working week to be cut to 40 hours.

And it plans to "transform the current union structure, from enterprise unionism to industrial unionism". This will be "a vital requirement in the KCTU's effort to reach out to a wider range of workers and to undertake its campaigns more effectively". But "it may - unless the government and employers acknowledge the inevitability of the change - require continued difficult struggle on the part of the KCTU".